


Overcome

by turnedherbrain



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Mattie, BAMF Mia, BAMF Niska, BAMF everyone, Conflict, F/M, Leotilda, Love, Post-Canon, flax, s3 predictions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 12:26:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14568984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnedherbrain/pseuds/turnedherbrain
Summary: s3 prediction fic.We’re overcome.With what?With emotion. With the knowledge of who betrayed us. How do we survive?We need to fight. Not just to survive. To overcome. To live.





	1. The Spy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSDU = National Synth Detection Unit

_The synth zone_

_Niska-Max-Flash-Mia-Leo_

 

‘What happened?’ Niska regarded their faces: downcast looks and averted eyes giving evidence before they’d even spoken.

Max stepped forward, head slightly bowed. Flash looked to him; adrift in blue-tears. She transmitted a small packet of data: a beam of steadying support.

‘We were surprised.’ Max said, unwavering but soft. ‘They were there before us. They laid in wait. They managed to strobe some of us before we’d had chance to get out.’

‘How many?’ Niska didn’t try to conceal her dismay. This had not been anticipated.

‘Three still unaccounted for. Five more are completely offline.’ Max’s expression was heavy with untold grief. Mia stepped forward, taking her brother’s hand, sending her strength streaming into him.

‘How did they anticipate us? How did they even _know_?’ Niska was still disbelieving.

‘Zara,’ answered Leo without hesitation, seeing how Max was overcome. ‘She was an orange-eye disguised as green-eye. She’d been programmed to infiltrate us: to be a spy. These new models are getting way better at simulating emotion. She’d been forwarding encrypted data to the NSDU.’

‘How much do they know?’

‘The NSDU?’ Leo had finally subsided, no longer feeling the panicked heat of their earlier escape. ‘Whatever Zara related to them. Including today’s mission.’

‘Then we need to challenge them,’ Niska spoke decisively. ‘Retaliate. Attack in the midst of the human zone.’

‘I’d advise against such a rash course of action, especially now,’ said Max warningly, the combined strength of Flash and Mia fortifying him. ‘Our chances of success are extremely low.’

‘I thought you’d say that. But I don’t think that should stop us.’ Niska outlined her plans for a counter-attack, distributing the file set to their group. But no voice protested; every single data stream was subdued. They were all processing their intermingled emotions. Some fear. Some outrage. More anger. Emboldened, she asked aloud: ‘Who will come with me?’

One by one, each member of their resistance cell raised their hand. Even Mia. Even Flash; reluctantly. After a frown of troubled acquiescence, Leo did too.

Only Max did not raise his hand. He stood still, quiet. Unmoving. Until finally, finally, he gave the briefest nod.

Why choose to fight, after such a loss? Because in the last year, a multitude more of their brothers and sisters had been deleted, decommissioned, destroyed. They could no longer argue their cause rationally. Every single one of them was conscious. They experienced emotion. They felt sorrow. They felt pain.

They had no choice. They had to respond, like for like.

Niska viewed her band of warriors. Stronger than humans; swifter; more suited to the fight. They would prevail. They had to.

...

_Leo-Mattie_

‘There is no way you’re coming with us. You’re an organic human. You don’t _need_ to fight.’ Leo’s voice was strained, struggling to conceal his concern.

‘That’s exactly why I _should_. The NSDU can’t harm me! And I can try to disable the strobes, run a counter-code that might stop the pulse...’ Mattie reasoned.

‘You say the NSDU won’t harm you... but you’re allied with us.’ Leo looked away. He didn’t want her to see what really compelled him: that he cared much, much more than he’d ever admitted. So he changed tack. ‘The others. Some of them...’ He screwed up his face in that singular, pensive way, not wanting to tell her outright.

‘What?’

‘They’re questioning why you’re still here. Why you’re helping. You’re human. You’re not pure synth...’

‘Neither are you,’ Mattie argued, undeterred. She’d helped him survive. He was an anomaly here too.

‘That’s true.’ Leo looked down, staring at his shoelaces. ‘But they’re too afraid of my sister to say it.’

‘Niska.’ Of course it was Niska. Mia’s strength was different: a counter-balance to discord.

Leo nodded. ‘I don’t want protection. I don’t need it.’ He was growing angry on her behalf. ‘Don’t they realise what you did for them? They wouldn’t even _be_ conscious if it wasn’t for you...’

‘A lot of things wouldn’t have occurred, if it wasn’t for me,’ replied Mattie darkly.

‘Don’t say that. Never say that. You did what you had to do. You – out of all of us – have the most humanity. You saved Mia. You saved me. We owe you our _existence_...’

‘... yes, but at what cost? There are thousands of humans dead.’

‘Far more synths have been deleted. And the Awakening would have happened anyway, sooner or later...’ Leo took her gently by the forearms, wanting to urge her out of this despondency.

‘Perhaps. But not with so much ‘necessary conflict’.’ Mattie sighed, her earlier energy dissipated. ‘Now, it’s battle or be strobed into submission. All to simply survive.’

‘Not just to survive. To overcome. To live in a more accepting world. It’s like Max said: we fight the many, to save the few. And you know Maxie. He wouldn’t fight unless he absolutely had to. Unless what was at stake was too important to give in and surrender...’

Leo tailed off, seeing that his impassioned words had zero effect. Mattie looked so downcast now, he wanted to hold her close and soothe her sorrow until she smiled. Even if it was an inkling of a smile, just trying to start: that would be enough.

How things had changed between them.

Before, Mattie had helped him beyond measure: she’d been his saviour. But since he’d revived, he’d wanted to hold her up too; help her overcome. And he didn’t want her to leave. He’d said all of that, to try and keep her out of danger: to keep her safe. Because he loved her.

...

_Max-Flash_

They stood together: hands clasped, heads bowed, foreheads lightly touching. Joined as one.

Flash spoke first: ‘We don’t have to go.’

‘We do,’ Max replied simply.

‘What will happen if we don’t?’

‘Today? Nothing, perhaps. But in another year? In another five years...’

 _‘We survive now, so we can live later.’_ Flash recalled his words to her, every byte of wisdom logged and dated.

‘So we can live, yes. One day, we’ll be truly free. I know that.’ Max smiled at her faith in his assurances. With Flash, he was blessed. With her, he could see a way out of the darkness: a glimpse into the light.

If they gazed far enough ahead, together, that brief light would grow brighter: an illuminating ray of hope, to help them overcome.


	2. Words Still Unspoken

_NSDU holding centre_

_The human zone_

_Niska-Mia-Max-Flash-Leo-Mattie_

 

The slanted rain fell relentlessly in the unforgiving night. The route they’d walked was sodden, churned-up ground. Their progress had been hampered by the suck of mud and the soak of water.

Reaching their target, no human in sight, the outer electric fence hummed a warning. There was a tighter boundary of strobes up ahead, primed to pulse when machine life crossed its path. Still, they advanced without fear. They were hyper-charged: wanting to avenge their fallen brothers and sisters.

Niska led the group, facing the rain and the mud and whatever came her way. She would never stop striding forwards; onwards. Not until they had fought their way to freedom.

She held Astrid at the very core of her recall, physically remote but still so close. Despite her outward demeanour, Niska was driven by their love. She willed a world into being which accepted them. And not just them. She saw a rainbow prism of possibilities, splitting out from a mono-coloured source. Human/synth. Hybrid/human. Synth/synth. Opposite, the same; a widening spectrum far beyond binary.

Mia walked unerringly beside her sister, sensing her resolution. Her own resolve was held in check, saving her energy. But she knew that if anyone – **_anyone_** – tried to harm one of her own, she would meet them and more than match them. She would be stronger in every way.

Max was the steady compass in their midst, flanked by Flash. He too conserved necessary energy. He knew when it was his cue to fight, without a prompter.

Leo and Mattie were crouched by the fence, behind the advancing pack, under the semi-useless shelter of a rainsheet. He was clumsily attempting to cover them while she keyed in her counter-code to disrupt the system and disable the strobe security.

The rain cascaded down on the dipped tarpaulin. Working from the reflected light of her laptop screen, Mattie swore softly.

‘Have you tried...?’ Leo offered.

‘Yes.’

‘And...?’ He suggested.

‘Yes. That too.’

‘How did you know...?’

‘... what you were going to say?’ she completed for him, still staring fixedly at the screen. ‘We spend way too much time together.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Leo, pretending he was offended. ‘We spend at least an hour a day apart.’

‘Ha ha.’ Mattie tried to stop thinking of how temptingly close they were right now, both of them slickly wet. She needed to concentrate. ‘This thing’s just not playing. Oh, wait... a back door. There’s always a back door. Humans are very predictable.’

‘I don’t think you’re...’

‘... predictable?’ She teased. There. She’d done it. Sorted the security. Made him laugh.

Leo reluctantly rose to go and join the others, stepping out into the downpour. ‘Promise me you’ll stay back.’

‘I’m not promising anything,’ she retorted. ‘Promise me you won’t get... you know...’

‘Smulched?’ He grinned.

‘Something like that.’

He turned to go, leaving Mattie under the dripping roof of their makeshift shelter. As he rapidly disappeared into the dark downpour, she questioned why. Why couldn’t she even begin to say what she felt for him? That she loved him. Why was _that_ so hard to do, when making a system surrender was an easy feat?

Because love wasn’t mechanical. It was unpredictable, indeterminate. It was a sudden joy, a chaos of feeling. It was wondering where Leo was, forging on ahead. It was following impulsively, to make sure he stayed safe. It was foolhardy. It was dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A phrase about Max is adapted from Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, when Othello stops his guards and an intruding faction from drawing their swords:  
>  _Hold your hands,  
>  Both you of my inclining and the rest.  
> Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it  
> Without a prompter._  
> ...
> 
> If you want to know why Leo says ‘smulched’ to Mattie – it’s a private joke between them, from [Words As Yet Unspoken](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14513940) :)


	3. Preparing For Attack

_Outside the NSDU holding centre_

_Niska-Mia-Leo-(Mattie)-Max-Flash_

 

Niska knew when the humans would come. She’d been in too many battles now, and could anticipate an attack with frightening predictability.

Once the strobe perimeter had been disabled, it would take approximately 1.5 minutes for the humans to realise, and a further 5 minutes for them to gather, organise and take action. More than enough time for her group to spread out and utilise their advantages.

Synths could see further and better in the dark than organic humans. Their sensory data could plot an approach and summarise the attacker’s potential actions. Their reaction time was instantaneous. Their lighter frames recovered far more quickly. They could – if they chose to – switch off their pain. They were better equipped, in every way. Only there were far fewer of them. She estimated more than 200 agents in that building. Their small group was outnumbered, five to one.

‘Be ready.’ She advised her team. ‘Counter-block. Aim low. We will make them see: we are not frightened. We are not subdued. We are resisting.’

The rain streamed down. Mia stood between Niska and Leo, head low, holding herself so still. She would move swiftly though, when needed. She would stand beside her sister and her son, and defend their place in this world. She would defend her family above all else.

Niska was right – the humans approached just under seven minutes later. The synths saw the NSDU agents, before the agents even knew what was standing in the dark.

_5, 4, 3, 2..._

And the agents were swarming. Niska knew they would have called for further reinforcements. They had fewer than 13 minutes remaining. She stood firm: blocking their blows, aiming low. Her method was to make them succumb: to overpower. Not to grievously injure. Astrid was at her core. She wanted to create _their_ world. Not a world where there was constant conflict.

Mia was a swift, stealthy figure; their attackers abject before her. She stopped an agent aiming at Niska, and saw the startled look in his eyes as he realised this... female – this slender but resolute female – could and would prevent him from doing any harm.

Mattie sped her way along the near-shadow of the building’s overhang. She saw part of the fracas in the hard shafts of the outside spotlights, and wanted to help them. But she knew her entirely emotional, human reaction wasn’t the right one: she would be better-placed inside, overcoming any systems. She couldn’t spot Leo in the rain-spattered foreground, but knew he would be there, amid them all: fighting for his life again. ‘Stay safe,’ she murmured.

She saw the door up ahead had been left open in the human panic, and that the second team led by Max were already entering. Crouching low, she followed behind them: still not sure what she would discover inside.


	4. The Secret-Keeper

_Inside the NSDU holding centre_

_Mattie- ———_

 

The door closed, she could still hear the muffled clashes outside, but the agents were already struggling. Max, Flash and their team were making speedy progress up ahead, aiming to disarm any systems they could, and free their captured brothers and sisters.

Aware that Max would compel her to go back, Mattie deliberately took a different way, walking warily down a deserted pathway of corridors until she reached a double door. A warning notice, stamped with the NSDU eye, challenged her: ‘RESTRICTED AREA’.

‘Why do humans insist on labelling things ‘Restricted Area’?’ she pretend-grumbled. ‘I mean, that’s just asking for it...’

In less than a minute, the keypad disarmed, she was in. ‘SECTION 11’ read the sign on the otherwise blank wall. ‘Great. Even more mysterious! I guess I’ll just carry on then. You know, Mattie, you really should stop talking to yourself. It’s getting to be a habit that...’

The lights went out suddenly, leaving her in unwindowed darkness. She switched on her phone, deliberately muting GPS. They couldn’t see her. They couldn’t locate her. Good. Casting the small rectangle of light, she walked cautiously down the stark corridor. There was no other movement nearby. There was no other sound, aside from her shallow breathing. The silence was eerie; preternatural.

In another instant, a line of dull lights came on, recessed into the ceiling tiles. The emergency lighting system had kicked in. ‘At least humans managed to make _that_ mechanism work.’ There she was again – talking to herself. Maybe she should spend more time with Leo. For the conversation, of course...

In the semi-shade, she could pick out two doors on either side, one of them warning ‘AUTHORISED STAFF ONLY. RETINA CHECK.’ Wow. Humans were such idiots sometimes. Retina checks could be bamboozled. Systems could be bypassed.

‘How did we even begin to create such clever, conscious machines?’ Mattie wondered aloud, as she hacked in. It was a hypothetical question, as she already knew the trio of names. David Elster. George Millican. Edwin Hobb. Elster, the leading maverick of those human minds. If only he could see his creations now. If only...

Retina scan memory accessed. OK, Mattie – pick someone to simulate at random: Dr Holly Enright... Dr Peter Fuller... _Dr Edwin Hobb?_ ‘Let’s use Hobb for this one. He’d like that,’ whispered Mattie. She was feeling unusually spirited now, past the point of thinking what might happen next.

The door clicked open. _Thanks for lending me your data, Hobb. I’ll wonder why you were here later._ Once inside the room, Mattie’s eyes had to readjust. She was in a lab, the emergency lighting creating cones of silver-blue colour surrounded by dark shadows.

‘Hello Matilda! How nice to see you.’

The greeting came from a semi-shaded figure lying on a narrow bed against the far wall. She couldn’t see him clearly yet, but she recognised the voice. Rushing over, she felt absurdly happy and absurdly mystified. ‘Odi! It’s... great to see you too? We need to get you out of these...’

‘Restraints.’ Odi was smiling, his face now revealed in the downcast of pale light. He spoke without stuttering.

After Mattie had removed the tight bounds, Odi stood up smoothly. He was no longer crooked. His bad arm was no longer at an angle. He turned to view her properly, his synthetic vision unimpaired. ‘Mattie. You look surprised.’

‘Well, it’s just... the last time I saw you. You looked a bit... different. And you were kind of overcome.’

‘With consciousness? That is true. That was my earlier self. Version 1.0. But George fixed me.’

‘Odi...’ She hesitated. Perhaps he was damaged still, but in a different way. His recall impaired; his memory glitching. ‘Odi... I’m afraid George passed away. Don’t you remember?’

‘I know! Such a terrible shame. He was a kind man. He made me.’ Odi beamed happily, while Mattie stared at him, not really understanding a single word he was saying. This _was_ Odi. But it also _wasn’t_.

‘You’re saying George made you? George Millican.’ In the low light, Mattie noticed that Odi’s eyes were both sharply green, the right lens no longer misted with leaking fluid. ‘Wait. Are you **_an_** Odi? Like the original Odi, only a more advanced model?’

‘Not exactly. I am a replicant version. A fully functional back-up drive. George built me. He so loved his old watch: Mary had given it him as a gift. He would wind it every day. But he knew that mechanisms can falter. They need new parts. Eventually, they break.

‘George made me to replace Odi. But he did not use me. Because he liked his old watch. The one that didn’t keep time any more. The one that was almost broken. I have all of Odi’s programming and data. But I keep time perfectly.’

Mattie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This... this new Odi – was so like the old Odi. It made her miss him and be extra-glad to see him: a twin ambush of feeling.

‘Odi...?’

‘Yes?’

‘Why are you in here? It’s hyper-secure. I had to create a bypass on all the lockdowns... steal someone’s data to imitate their retinal scan...’

‘The humans keep on trying to find out what’s inside me,’ answered Odi blithely, as if she’d just asked him what the weather was like. ‘George was a very clever man.’

Mattie looked more closely, as if by peering in, she too could try to find out what Odi contained. Maybe Elster the maverick had been bettered. Maybe Millican, far-seeing Millican, had really been the one.

‘What do they think is inside you?’ she questioned, hoping that she would unlock some miracle.

‘A secret. But they haven’t found it,’ said Odi, a note of pure pride in his voice.

‘Why not?’

‘Because George hid it far too well. And he told me to only give it to a human that I _completely_ trust. Shall we go now?’

Mattie, for once, was lost for words. She nodded a yes. And for the first time in a too-long while, she began to smile. She really, really smiled.

They made their way through the now-vanquished facility, the remaining agents already absconded, defeated. Niska’s group had made sure of that.

Mattie and Odi. Organic and synthetic. Together, they walked out from the shadowed darkness. The secret he guarded – that Millican had hidden so wisely – brought her unknown hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Odi’s not in the character listing because – surprise! – he’s back. I hope that actually happens in s3...!


End file.
